Page 22 of The Umarova Crime Family

“Yes, well, I thought you’d want to know we have some dogs out for blood. Anyone who’s truly loyal to the Umarova family is heading for Boston. Every one of them wants to see Anzor suffer for what he put you through, and they want him out of the picture. You’re their leader, not him.”

“What do you mean by dogs? Allies? Chechen people?”

“Chechen people, my brother. It seems we aren’t the only ones not pleased with the way Anzor’s led. In the last twenty years, crime rates have gone up exponentially. Our father kept crime out of Grozny, and if there were issues, he’d make sure they were hush-hush. Anzor didn’t care about upsetting the people of Chechnya. All he ever cared about was money.”

I’m not displeased. Chechnya has seen the cruelties that were dealt to my family at Anzor’s hand. Many probably saw he was taking advantage of a situation he shouldn’t have ever been involved in. If anyone was going to speak for me, it should’ve been my mother… but our country hasn’t taken too keenly to women being in power. Anzor had no place doing everything he’s done over the years.

“Have you made any contact with the O’Deas?” The O’Deas are one of the foremost Irish families. Though they’re not at the top of the food chain, they work under their cousins, the Mackenzies. They do, however, run everything that happens in Boston, and we’d be fools to head there without speaking to them.

“No, I haven’t. I figured you’d be the one to contact Cian,” Cian, the eldest son of the O’Dea family, has been the leader for well over twenty years.

“No, I’m going to ask you to do this for me. I have something I need to handle here, so please contact Cian and get whatever authorization you need to.” Truth be told, I’ve been stressed out lately. All of this with Anzor, Artos, and then the bullshit with Amelia’s ex-boyfriend, Carter. Ever since the day at the park, I’ve had a bad feeling about Carter, and then when Danill told me what happened at the club, I knew the man would be trouble.

“All right. I’ll do what’s needed to be done. Is there anything specific you want me to do when I contact Cian or when I’m in Boston?” I think about it for a few moments, and when it comes to Cian, I don’t have anything specific.

“Whenever you have Anzor in your grasp, make sure to bring him here to Atlanta. Nothing is to be done to him in Boston, and he’s not to be killed.”

“Is your plan to take him back to Chechnya?” Lom questions, and he must think I’m going to be decent to Anzor.

“No. I won’t be giving him the dignity of dying in his homeland. He doesn’t deserve such a privilege.” I might sound cold because he is my stepfather and the father to my two half-siblings, but he’s gone against me in ways I will never be able to forgive him for. Anzor may have been around for a large part of my life, but he isn’t my family. He’s my enemy.

Nal drives me back to the hotel, and he heads into the parking garage. We get out of the vehicle, head for the elevators, and head inside. Within a few minutes, we’re up and walking into the suite I’ve rented here. Though, as I head into the suite, I notice Amelia’s curled up on the couch with a blanket, seeming a bit worse for wear.

Danill’s sitting about ten feet away from her at the desk in the living room. He’s on a laptop, and once he sees I’m back, he motions with his head for me to go to Amelia.

“Malen'kiy krolik, what’s going on? You seem a bit different.”

Amelia swallows hard and grabs the hot cup of tea sitting on the coffee table in front of her. She wraps her hands around the warm mug and looks at me as if she’s debating telling me what’s wrong.

“You should tell him, Miss Amelia,” Danill speaks up.

Amelia shoots her head back around to glare at Danill. “Why? Because you already threatened to if I didn’t? I don’t need you to act as a guillotine over my head, Danill. I’m an adult, and I’ll speak to Ruslan about what I want to, not because I’m being forced to by one of his men.” Amelia’s tone is laced with venom, and it’s evident to me she’s furious at Danill. It seems to me he made a mistake in pissing her off. But I want to know what’s happened because something obviously has.

Danill turns his head and realizes Nal is with me. “Nal, it is good to see you.”

“Likewise,” Nal says to Danill.

Amelia looks past me and at Nal. “I’m not normally so bitchy, so I apologize. It’s great to meet you.”

Nal smirks at Amelia’s words. “Likewise. I’ve heard very good things about you, Miss Amelia.” Nal walks over to where Danill is and takes a seat beside him.

Meanwhile, I take a seat next to Amelia and wrap my arm around her. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

Amelia runs a hand through her hair and sighs heavily. “I wanted to get out of the suite for a bit, so I went for a walk,” Amelia pauses, and I somewhat glare at her. She’s forgetting one important piece of information here. “Don’t worry, I didn’t go alone. Danill was a little ways behind me the entire time. So I had my earphones in and was walking, taking in the scenery and all that. I rounded the corner and ran straight into Carter. When I mean I ran into him, I mean I literally ran into him.”

I glance at Danill, and he doesn’t seem pleased in the least bit. He knows as much as I do that there’s something fishy going on here. “What did he say to you?”

“He said, and I quote, ‘I knew I’d run into you again, Amelia.’” Amelia closes her eyes as she speaks. I can tell this has shaken her up a bit, and I understand why. From what I know about her previous relationship, he was cruel to her. She dealt with what she could, but she ignored a lot of the red flags at the time. I think being with me now has shown her what she should look for in a man and what isn’t appropriate.

“What did you do?” I ask her, and I run my hand along her shoulder. I’m trying to reassure her, to silently tell her I’m here for her and that she’s okay.

“I didn’t have to do anything. Danill came up right behind me and pushed Carter out of the way.” Amelia takes a sip of the tea and then swallows before speaking again. “He said he looked forward to seeing me later and then tomorrow. He said I looked pretty in the dress I wore to meet with Emily the other day. It… it made me sick to my stomach, Ruslan.” The more she speaks, the angrier I get. “I thought he was the one at the club, and I knew I felt eyes on me. I didn’t have any idea he was following me to meet with Emily too.”

I stop rubbing her arm and hold her against me. “I’m going to handle this, Amelia. You don’t have to worry anymore about it. Okay?”

Amelia turns her head to stare into my eyes. “I’m afraid to ask what you’re going to do.”

“You don’t have to ask, but if you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

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